“She Gods of Sharks Reef” is one of,if not the first, movie that Roger Corman made thats in color in the 1950’s and that helps a lot in the very scenic scenes shot on land and under water in the film.
Shot on location on the Hawaiian island of Kaga’l the movie is about two brothers Chris & Lee Johnston, Bill Cord & Don Durant, who get swept away in a violent typhoon in the South China Sea and end up some 300 miles off course at the all women island of Rara Tu. Chris was trying to save his criminal brother Lee from the authorities for a murder he committed in trying to raid an armory and steal a large amount of weapons.
Taken on shore by the women of the island the two are given clothes food and water as well as the hospitably and company of the natives there. Told that a ship from the outside world will arrive in a few days to pick them up and bring them back home Chris & Lee realize that they’ll be arrested and have to stand trial back on the mainland: Lee for murder and Chris for helping to escape and harboring a murderer.
Finding a small ship on the island the two hide it in the under brush and plan to make their getaway but soon something happens that complicates their planes. The native God Tanga Roah who the people of the island feel is angry at them by having so much bad weather hit their island. To placate Tanga Roah over the last few weeks the natives have a number of young maidens sacrificed by taking them out to sea and then throwing them into the ocean to be eaten by sharks.
Chris seeing this swims out and saves one of the maidens Maniah, Lisa Montell, to the bitter hostility of the Queen of island Queen Pua, (Jeanne Gerson) who feels that this would make Tanga Roah’s anger even more ferocious.
Back on land Mahia falls in love with Chris and plans to escape with him and Lee from the island since all thats waiting for her there is certain death as to being a sacrificial lamb for the angry God Tanga Roah. The criminally minded brother Lee has other ideas on not just escaping from the island but taking the many valuable pearls, hidden in the islands main building, thats been gathered up from the sea by the sea diving maidens and that in the end will lead to disaster for him.
Not much of a story but the scenic color photography and the many underwater sequences, all original and not stock footage like you would have expected in a low budget movie like this, make it more then interesting and the beautiful, as well as courageous, young Mahia didn’t hurt the film either.
